The Great Seal

ANNUIT COEPTIS

Four tall, slender buildings flexibly coupled to a single upper structure form a stable pyramid; yet allow sway for wind and earthquake stress relief. The profile minimizes wind exposure and opens the surrounding streets to the sky and daylight.

The base high occupancy sections are only 70 stories tall with enclosed elevated walkways allowing efficient transfer from one building to another. This base supports the lightweight, largely hollow, glass-enclosed upper structures. The first upper structures are clear and house the memorial gardens, one atop each of the bases. The remaining upper portions of the clear glass sections contain low occupancy public space for the arts, solar panels and large moving mirrors, which send natural light down the atrium.

Atop these clear glass sections, at the 110th floor, is an opening restoring the views from the original World Trade Center. Click here for a height comparison between the original WTC and the Great Seal project.

Continuing skyward, a solid pyramid sits on four flexible columns, fluidly coupling the four buildings below. The lower portion of this pyramid is encased in dark tinted glass and houses the communications antennas. Above the antenna section is the enclosed observatory: the highest in the world.

At the summit is a titanium cap which houses a rotating beacon, a web cam, and the anchor to the pendulum, which hangs from the peak of the highest building in the world to the center of the ground floor atrium park.

At 9:11 pm each evening, two U-shaped tubular structures swing out at the 110th floor. Water jets spray a mist, which evaporates before reaching the ground, and defocused sheet lasers shine down through the mist, to create a mirage of the original towers.